AFRIOCEANS WARRIORS BLOG

The AfriOceans Warriors Programme is a unique environmental education programme, the largest of its kind in South Africa, sponsored by the National Lotteries Board Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF). It   is already working with 12 local Primary schools in the South Peninsula, reaching 420 learners every week. Over the next three years the Programme aims to reach many communities and learners along our coastline.

“The support of companies like Thorpe Motor Group in Fish Hoek, who align with our mission to conserve and protect our natural resources, is what makes the important work we do possible. We are very excited about our new partnership with Thorp Motor Group and General Motors – together we are going the extra mile and making a difference!” said Executive Director of AfriOceans, Lesley Rochat.

AfriOceans Head of Education Terry Corr, “Thorp Motor Group’s fantastic contribution to the AfriOceans Education team will greatly assist us as we travel to many schools in the Cape Town area to teach hundreds of young learners about the importance of our Oceans and how they can take Action.”

 The Chevrolet Spark Lite that has been sponsored is one of the most environmentally friendly vehicles on the road, with the lowest CO 2 emissions measured of any similar type of vehicle.

“We must become the example to those we teach, and reducing our ecological footprint is key to a sustainable future.” said Corr.

For further information on AfriOceans Conservation Alliance

 Contact: Executive Director Lesley Rochat 021 7827590

 Head of Education  Terry Corr 021 7821348

 E mail: terry@aoca.org.za

 For information on Thorp Motors Fish Hoek

 Contact: Branch Manager Rene Cronje 021 7841220

Our programme this term focussed on the individual child, the AfriOceans Warrior and their right of passage, which included getting a kelp vuvuzela, decorating it and learning to blow it. If they could do this they would become an official AfriOceans Warriors member, receive a personalised membership card and a button badge. What an awesome experience, assisted by Michael Carnegie of KELP, to get all the pieces of kelp to the schools and painted and dried in the allotted time.  

I have become the dedicated taxi driver, as well as being head of education and teacher as we drive daily between schools in our new Quantum 14 seater vehicle and trailer, kindly sponsored by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund. (NLDTF). We have held mini warrior challenges to prepare our warriors for a full scale Warrior challenge next term and these activities have brought out the fighting spirit and out of the box thinking required to be a warrior. Our AfriOceans Warriors were also required to come up with names for their Tribes and practice a chant that they are required to sing at the beginning of each meeting.

Next term we will be focussing on building the knowledge base of the learners around the oceans and they will get to learn more about the rocky shores, beaches, rivers and key ocean creatures such as sharks, dolphins, whales, seals and fish and how everything is connected. We look forward to continuing and building on our exciting friendships that have grown out of our unique environmental education programme and welcome interested schools to contact us to learn how they can take part.

We walked through stands of alien gums, areas of riverine restoration, coastal fynbos, typha tunnels and finally wetland reeds as we reached the Glencairn Wetlands, Do you see why wetlands are important I asked. “Yes, because the filter out pollution, they hold back water in floods and they are a home to many different animals and plants” came the reply.

When we reached the sea we all cheered in unison. AfriOceans Warriors are awesome! We walked to the last stop, our Glencairn rainbow mural where each one of us placed their painted hand, in the 7 colours of the rainbow, on the wall to demonstrate that we are making Handprints for Ocean Action. The whole mini expedition was filmed by film and editing team of Lesley and Nina and we look forward to seeing it featured on 50/50 shortly.

To see the seniors of Glencairn endorsing the AfriOceans Warriors efforts by placing their handprints side by side with our next generation conservationists was a great milestone in our new programme and indeed, for this country SA. A big thanks to all our AfriOceans Warriors from the 4 different tribes; to GEESE, to Liesel and Mortimer from Creating Change, to our film crew for the day AfriOceans Executive Director Lesley and Film Editor Nina, to our staff Charmaine, Ishmael, Naomi and Matthew and especially to Donald Barnett who has been the inspiration in this art installation. Finally, thank you to the National Lottery Board (NLDTF) for their generous support for the 3 year AfriOceans Warriors programme and also to Highlander Hardware and the Glen Lodge for assisting with the Glencairn Community wall project. Come and see it. It is AWESOME! For more photographs on the Wetlands Day 

AfriOceans Warriors are Awesome! That’s the overwhelming response from kids taking part in our AWESOME Holiday programme continuing from our base at Glencairn and at Muizenberg Blue Flag beach. We have played games, we have held shark building competitions, we have painted over graffiti covered walls, we have taught kids the shark spotting flags, learnt about rivers & wetlands, made craft from waste. Our new AfriOceans Warriors are loving every minute of it, taking ACTION for the Oceans.

Kicking off on Saturday 12 December, the Glencairn Community project, a partnership between Artist Donald Barnett, AfriOceans and GEESE, Donald provided a workshop for local kids on how they were going to paint a giant rainbow mural on a graffiti covered wall near the Glencairn station and then draw local ocean and land animals on to it with the aim of beautifying it and uplifting the local Glencairn station area.

At Muizenberg, Terry Corr and Ishmael Sabodien have reached hundreds of youngsters, especially surfers enjoying themselves on the beach for the December holidays. We have fielded many questions about the AfriOceans Warriors, the importance of sharks, shark behaviour, food chains, and tips on being sharkwise. The aspirant AfriOceans Warriors were shocked to hear that 100 million sharks were killed every year worldwide and only 5 of us! And they were fascinated to know that there are globally over 500 different species with South Africa having over 100, only a few considered dangerous. Thanks to Ingrid Carmichael and Andrea Stoltenberg for kindly volunteering their time to help. On Tuesday, we built a huge 8m long White Shark as a sand sculpture and what a huge success it was, becoming an instant tourist attraction and was even posted on Facebook with heading ‘Huge White Shark spotted in Muizenberg’.

Back at Glencairn, Michael Carnegie & Charmaine Rochat, assisted by Matthew Tjale ran a 5 day education programme that took the kids into the Glencairn Wetlands to explore the water creatures that live there. They learnt more about Maxine the shark and her friends, met the shark spotter and learnt the flags. They explored the rock pools at low tide, where they found some fantastic starfish, sea urchins and feather worms. They made ‘craft from waste’ pots from tumbled glass collected on the beach and painted their own kelp vuvuzelas. What an awesome week and another two to follow.

On Friday, we put up our new AWESOME Gazebo and feather banners at Muizenberg and it was like a magnet for kids drawing them in to find out more. We held a fantastic shark lesson, taught the meaning of the shark flags, how to be shark wise and showed them different photographs of sharks. Then we held an awesome shark building competition and the new AfriOceans Warriors were each given an AfriOceans Warriors Certificate of participation, with the winners receiving return trips up the Cape Point funicular, courtesy of the Cape Point partnership.

Back at Glencairn on Saturday 17 December, we were part of the Glencairn Family Day and we had 21 AfriOceans Warriors artist activists to draw their creatures on their Rainbow wall. What an awesome day. The results speak for themselves and as we walked back to the fair along the rocks, I shouted Save the Sharks through the megaphone. And the reply in unison can back. We turned heads and everyone loves the effect that the AfriOceans Warriors has had on the wall. Back inside our centre, founder of AfriOceans, Lesley Rochat welcomed the new kids to the Tribe and presented the membership badges with the words ‘You are now an AfriOceans Warrior’. AWESOME! Thanks to Grete from Glen Lodge, Frankie from Highlander Hardware, Harry & Celeste from Cape Point Partnership, Marlene from Top Movies and Alex and Elizabeth Frasco for prizes and donations. We greatly appreciate all your assistance.

Using simple but effective scientific tools like nets, sampling trays and bug slides, the eager girls were introduced to scientific research techniques by collecting and identifying as many different bugs they could find on different stretches of the river and wetland areas.In the upper reaches of the rivers, the presence of key species like mayfly nymphs and stonefly nymphs indicate clean drinkable water. And the girls found lots of them, which was very exciting for them and quickly changed their minds about the state of the river.

As we moved down the river and the sampling became routine, they found a host of bugs and creatures living there in their different niches.Tallying up their results using the mini SASS method developed by Umgeni Water in KZN, they could make informed statements based on the knowledge gained through the activity and with the creativity flowing, came up with a list of water saving actions that they could take. And when they reached the ocean at Clovelly, they excitement spilt over as they waded in the shallows, happy to be free and having fun whilst learning.

To end off, each group made sand creatures of their choice and the results were spectacular! Giant sharks, mermaids and even mayfly nymphs! Whilst children are now required to spend more and more time in the classroom, we at AfriOceans believe that Outdoor educational excursions like this are critical in shaping children’s interests in learning and exposing them to interactive, learning experiences that we once took for granted. For more on AfriOceans excursions and camps visit www.aoca.org.za/excursions-and-camps.